


An Old-Fashioned Celebration

by Fluffypanda



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel
Genre: Food, Fourth of July, Gen, Loneliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 23:42:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7382296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/pseuds/Fluffypanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve wants to get away from it all on his birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Old-Fashioned Celebration

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me shamelessly writing about Captain America coming to the local Fourth of July celebration I go to every year. There really isn't much else going on.

On Steve Roger's 98th birthday, he went out to a small town in Connecticut. There was no particular reason he chose this town other than it was out of the way and had a locally famous Fourth of July Jamboree. The advertisement online had said, "This old-fashioned celebration reminds us of a simpler time. So come with us and step back in time as we celebrate the brave people who have gone before us." Normally he would feel a certain amount of derision towards anyone calling the past a simpler time, but after everything that happened, he wanted to indulge in that fiction for a few hours. This day always reminded Steve of what he has lost.

  
When he drove up to the common on his motorcycle at 11:00 am, he found it to be quite crowded. It was nothing like the crowds in New York, but a couple hundred people packed into few hundred square feet does have an effect. Right away, Steve bought a ticket to pick up a chicken dinner later, it was a bit expensive, but it was part of a fundraiser for the local church so Steve didn't mind.  
Unsure what to do with himself, Steve decided to peruse the used book sale. The tent sat in the shadow of an enormous pine tree that was probably older than Steve. The books were barely organized, but that just made looking at the titles more interesting. Eventually he found a small section of history books. He had just finished choosing a couple and had turned to find the register when Steve bumped into a young woman. He picked up her straw hat off the ground and handed it back to her with an apology.

  
Once Steve paid for his books, he found a bench to sit on and read. He was really starting to regret not bringing Sam or at least someone else. He was still dead set against the birthday party they had wanted to throw, but maybe it wouldn't have been so bad to have one of his teammates with him. Steve was drawn over to the tent selling burgers and hot dogs. He bought two of each then, two pulled pork sandwiches from another tent. Once he was done with those, he went and picked up his chicken dinner. He spent twenty minutes eating every scrap of meat off the BBQ half chicken and then ate his watermelon slice. Steve wasn't satisfied, so he went and bought strawberry short cake and cookies. Thankfully he had a lot of cash on hand. It felt kind of wasteful, to spend that much money on food, but Steve had long learned to make concessions to his appetite. It wasn't until he had nearly finished the homemade cookies that he realized the empty feeling inside him wasn't hunger. Steve was a little ashamed, he should have known better than to eat his feelings.

  
The parade started shortly after that, fire trucks and antique cars circled the common. Steve recognized some of the models as they drove by. He was reminded of the parades in Brooklyn and he couldn't help but smile at the kids on bikes decorated in red, white, and blue. He used to ride with Bucky in parades like this when they were kids.

  
Now in a better mood, Steve took a look at the so called "Attic Treasures". It was mostly junk he didn't really have a use for, but at prices of 25 cents to a dollar, he could afford to bring something back to the team to apologise for not spending the day with them. After finding something for each of them and paying for it, Steve got ready to leave. He had planned to stay until the end, but he really wanted to get back to everyone. Unfortunately he found firemen blocking his way. They were aiming their hose at a barrel while another group of firemen were doing the same at the other end of the street. It was some sort of competition; they were trying to push the barrel to the other team's side. He sat back and watched them as water sprayed the audience. Steve looked around at the crowd, there were people of all ages lined up and cheering.

  
This was a community that had come together to celebrate the founding of their country. They treasured their traditions and welcomed even strangers joining them. This was what Steve wanted to protect. Maybe he'd take everyone next year.


End file.
